What is Soil pH and Why is it important in farming? - Chemosmart

    Drones for sprinkling chemicals on crops

              We know about the word 'Drone' which is used in many fields. In 1935 the British produced a number of ratio controlled aircraft to be used as targets for training purposes. A drone is a technology called as unmanned aircraft. Essentially, a drone is a flying robot that can be controlled or fly autonomously through software controlled flight plans in their embedded systems, working in conjugation with onboard sensors and GPS. 

                        Nowadays, Drone becomes an integral part of the farming. It will be possible to find out the infected part of the crops and sprinkle pesticides or insecticides only on the affected crops. There are many types of agricultural drones are available. Examples- DJI Agras MG-1 agriculture spraying Drone, DJI Matrice 100- Quadcopter, DJI T600 Inspire1 Quadcopter etc. Top agriculture drone company in the world is DJI which have the trade name of the Chinese brand- DJI Sciences and Technologies Ltd. It is leader of the agriculture drone companies market. This company has the biggest portfolio of products to suit the demands of diverse industries.  By using drone, pesticides can be sprayed on the farmland in just half an hour. The drone also check the number of fruits ready to be plucked from each tree. 

 

                Drone technology based unmanned aerial vehicle has the ability for smooth scouting over farm fields, gathering precise information and transmitting the data on real time basis. Drones help to monitor the diseases of longer trees like coconut farms using high definition cameras fixed to it. They also monitor the crop quality with thermal sensors. Various countries started use this drones in various fields especially in agriculture. In India, Andhra Pradesh, has started using drones for spraying pesticides in the agriculture field.  

            The University of Agricultural Sciences is working on using drones for sprinkling insecticide and pesticides. And this experiment of drones has already commenced on the soya been plot of the university. The UAS scientists say that the move is to ensure limited use of water. Also Accuracy in reaching the plants and also in protecting the plants from harms likely to be caused by chemicals. This experiment of drone on the soya been fields in UAS Campus here and a Drone carrying 20 litres of pesticides. The project is going on under the sponsorship of Pune based Syngenta India Limited Company which is dealing in pesticides, seeds and other far materials. Chief researchers D.N Kambrekar is Supervising this project.

                 D.N Kambrekar said that - the experiment has been taken up under the accurate farming scheme. Using the drone which has become an integral part of the farming, it will be possible to identify the infected part of the field and sprinkle pesticides or insecticides only on the affected crops. The project is still in experimental stage, he added. In this experiment, about 200 ml pesticides is mixed with 500 litres of water to be sprayed on 1 hectare land. But when we use a drone for sprinkling, we mixing 200ml of pesticide to 20 litres of water. The drone, which flies three meters above the field, sprays pesticides from top to bottom of the plants. Since the pesticide is of high density, the pest will be controlled within a short time. But we are also looking at how far this is safe for the overall growth of the crop, said Kambrekar. 

           Drones can spray 50 to 100 acres every day, which is 30 times more than the traditional spraying method. This method protects farmers from harmful pesticides and also prevents poisoning and heatstroke incidents. Drone method is also a water saving and saves 30% of pesticides. It is easy to use and maintain. It is economical as compared to traditional spraying method. It can spray pesticides with fixed position and fixed orientation, which reduces pollution to water and soil. 

           Drones have revolutionized agriculture by offering farmers major cost savings, enhanced efficiency, and more profitability. By quickly surveying vast stretches of farmland, drones can map the property, report on the crop health, improve spraying accuracy, monitor livestock and irrigation systems and more.